182 SHORT-TAILED MANIS. 



mens are perfectly smooth, but in those which 

 are smaller are slightly striated about halfway 

 from the base. Sometimes a few bristles appear 

 between the scales,, but in others this is not ob- 

 servable. The scales differ in shape from those 

 of the preceding, being much wider and larger 

 in proportion to the body and tail. The co- 

 lour of the whole animal is a very pale yellow- 

 brown, and the surface is glossy, as in the former 

 species. In India it is called the Pangoelling. 

 In the neighbourhood of Bengal it is named Va- 

 jracite, or the Thunderbolt Reptile, from the ex- 

 cessive hardness of the scales, which are said to 

 be capable even of striking fire like a flint It is 

 found in different parts of India, and perhaps also 

 in Guinea; this is on the authority of Des Mar- 

 chois, who says it is called Quogclo by the ne- 

 groes; that it grows to the length of eight feet, 

 of which the tail is four ; that it lives in woods 

 and marshy places, and feeds on ants, by laying 

 its long tongue across their paths. It is said to 

 walk slowly ; but, when pursued, rolls itself up, 

 and is then so securely armed that even a leopard 

 attacks it in vain. It is also said sometimes to 

 destroy the elephant, by twisting itself round the 

 trunk, and thus compressing that tender and sensi- 

 ble organ with its hard scales. We are told in 

 the Asiatic Researches, that the Malabar name of 

 this animal is Alungu; and that the natives of 

 Bahar call it Bajar-cit, or the Stone vermin; and 

 in the stomach of the one examined and described 



